Thursday, August 21, 2014

Several years
ago I decided to venture out and start backyard composting. My backyard is rather
small and I wanted to make sure to keep any furry friends out of the compost,
so purchased a compost bin. I cleared out a level space behind my detached
garage that was discrete and protected from winter wind. I kept a pathway
through the small wooded area next to the bin maintained so I could get to the
bin. The first year or so, it worked well. I didn’t have a lot of material to put
in the bin, but felt good not wasting what scraps I did have.

Then, as does happen, I got busy. I started clearing the
path less often, didn’t take scraps out to the bin nearly enough and my kitchen
collector got really gross. Like furry mold and maggot-filled gross. (I kind of
forgot I sat it on the steps next to the back door.) I tossed the putrid
kitchen collector and vowed to start fresh in the spring.

Only spiders can access this compost bin!

This spring brought lots of beautiful new growth in the
wooded area behind my garage. My postage stamp-sized yard became my own little
slice of heaven. The problem was, my compost bin was also surrounded by lush
greenery, literally. There were several vines wrapped around the bin and access
to the little door on the side was impossible. Not that I needed to harvest the
compost—after neglecting it for over two years, there wasn’t much going on in
there. It was basically a spider hotel. Behind the garage is a great location
for a spider hotel, but not for an accessible compost bin.

So last weekend, I grabbed my garden gloves and pruning
shears, and got to work. I cut the vines from around the bin, pulled back the
ground cover, trimmed honeysuckle branches out of the way, and carefully avoided
the poison ivy. The thick ground cover didn’t give me easy access to the
plastic screws that secure the bin to the earth, but I kept trimming until I
found them. Once the screws were removed, the bin lifted easily. I rinsed the
spiders off from the inner walls (sorry guys) and scouted out a new location
for my cleaned-up bin.

Two 8 oz. glasses of juice produce all these scraps!

After years of neglect, my compost bin deserved a good location for it’s new home: shaded, level, somewhat protected from wind.
And this time around, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t get swallowed up by my
little slice of heaven. More than anything, I wanted easy access to my bin. I’m
making my own vegetable and fruit juices, which tend to have a decent amount of
unusable scraps, and I just can’t send all those colorful scraps off to waste in
the landfill!

It's super easy taking scraps out to my compost bin now!

I chose a spot close to the edge of my property line, near
my green space, but not in it! I can see the bin from my kitchen window—a good
reminder to use it. And now the bin is only a few yards from my back door. No
more hacking through a small wilderness just to drop a few rotten berries into
the bin! I know my compost will be happier and healthier in its new location.
And so will I—now that I can juice with abandon and not feel guilty generating
a mound of unusable scraps every day. My compost bin will certainly welcome all
the vegetable and fruit scraps I have to give…along with other yard and food scraps, of course.

Now I’m off to the farmers market to gather the ingredients
for my next delicious juice creation. Cheers!